The death of a loved one or friend is one of the worst tragedies a person has to face in life. No one likes to face loss or death and it is only fair that justice is served. Capital punishment has been a debated topic since it was ever first implemented. It is the ultimate sentencing and is feared by all who face its wrath in court. Capital punishment should be federally regulated to speed up the process because of the massive amounts of overcrowding in prisons and the cost to keep those inmates is so high, therefore there would not have such a problem in this country with its prisons.
First, capital punishment should be regulated with more intensity because there are so many people in prison that most prisons are overcrowded and the inmates have very poor living conditions. Once sentenced to the death penalty, prisoners can fight their case and try to prove their innocence. Due to them being able to do this more and more inmates are added to prisons overcrowding them quickly. Overcrowding causes prisoners to live in unhealthy conditions and they have to remain in spaces unfit to support them. In state out of fifty-seven jails, twenty-seven are overcrowded, which is an uncomfortable amount of inmates. With this many amount of inmates it is a struggle for officers to maintain and take care for all those people. Those jails are only fit to hold 16,880 inmates but are now holding upwards of 25,000 (“27” 1). It is inhumane to keep that many people in an area not fit to hold them. This problem can be solved easily if capital punishment had stricter policies, then prisons across the US would not be so packed and overrun with inmates.
It is true that any person tried guilty, has the right to prove themselves innocent before execution. The death penalty is irreversible and the fact that some want to speed up the process shows how little the government values human life (“Progressive” 2). When inmates are given time to fight their case, it allows them to prove themselves and have a second chance at life. In 1998, eight people were freed due to them providing unfound evidence to prove their innocence (“Progressive” 3). If the process was sped up, those people would not have been able to prove their innocence and would have fallen to the unfair capital punishment system. The faster the process the less time those on death row have to prove themselves innocent and visit their loved ones to say goodbye. According to a Chicago tribune investigation, 381 homicide convictions have been withdrawn since 1963 because of false or concealed evidence. (“Progressive” 3). Those people got another chance at life and almost joined all the others who were falsely put to death. The repeal process has saved many lives and continues to save lives of those on death row awaiting their death.
No criminal, however, should be able to sit on death row for years and years while their victims family waits for justice to be served. It is unfair for people to suffer and deal with the mourning of a loved one while their murderer lives behind bars. One mother Janice Hunter speaks about the heartache her and her family face over their daughter’s murder (“Pataki” 2). Mrs. Hunter comments on having to go to the cemetery to see her daughter, while the murderers mother goes to jail to see him (“Pataki” 2). The Hunter family does not deserve this loss and it is not fair that the murderer gets to live after the gruesome murder of their daughter. This happens to families all across the country and justice needs to be served so these families can have peace and mind that no one else’s child might be murdered again. If the death penalty was actually consistently carried out many more lives would be spared from the possibility of the murder striking gain. According to a testimony by Representative Steven T. Mikutel, 3-18 lives are spared every time the death penalty is correctly carried out (“Evans” 1). Hundreds of lives a year could be saved if only the United States Government could figure out a way to frequently carry out this system. In doing so, families and friends across the nation would be able to have peace and feel justified that the murder of their loved one was executed.
Not only are the prisons overcrowded because of the slow process of death row, but keeping all those inmates during that time also costs states lots of money that could be used for more important and needed things. In California alone, four billion dollars between 1978-2011 was spent on keeping prisoners who were on death row (“Preface” 2). Only 13 executions took place during that period (“Preface” 2). That means it took 307 million dollars to execute each person in those 33 years. Not only is California a great example of the problems with capital punishment, but so is New Jersey. Throughout twenty-one years of prosecuting people on death row 241 million dollars was spent and not a single person was executed (“Preface” 1). Once again showing how wasteful and time consuming the process of capital punishment is right now. All that money wasted on holding and keeping inmates while they fight their case slowly, over the course of years and years. If the process was sped up all of that wasted taxpayer money could be spared and actually go to something that improved the lives of the community.
Although it may cost a lot to house those prisoners, many people have been proven innocent and totally changed into a new person while on death row. Under certain circumstances, some inmates will be fighting their case for years at a time and totally developed during that time. Because of the time they spend in jail and the things they experience there, some criminals on death row are no longer threatening (“Progressive” 5). Why put a newly changed man or women to death when they could get a second change and start their life over. Surely putting someone to death when they have changed is not the best option. Even if they were not freed they could spend their time in prison and face a much less inhumane punishment. Many state-initiated analyses have come to find that carrying out capital punishment is much more expensive than housing prisoners for life without parole (“Preface” 1). Why spend people’s hard earned money on executing someone and having them waste years on their trial when they can sit in prison and deal with the guilt and shame of their actions for the rest of their life in there. Spending life in prison without parole is certainly a better and less cruel solution when it comes to punishing the worst of criminals (“Progressive” 5). If those on death row were left to sit in prison and deal with their actions for the rest of their life it would be a much more mentally excruciating and punishing life to live than taking the easy way out and ending it all for a person.
States, however, can use those taxpayers’ money to go towards improving the life of their citizens and communities. As more and more people are commiting crimes and become inmates in prisons, more and more money is spent to keep up those facilities and the people who live in them. Assuming that capital punishment was actually enforced with more severity, there would not be any more money problems in the US prison system. During a study on death row costs, Florida taxpayers pay fifty-one million dollars more a year than that they would keeping prisoners on death row (“High” 1). This is a huge waste of those citizens hard earned money and it makes no sense to keep wasting the money when it could go to something more beneficial. The money spent on keeping prisoners could benefit the police officers, courts, and legal service agencies of the community (“High” 1). This would be a much better use of taxpayer money and would benefit the entire community unlike the way it is spent now, keeping prisoners who do not deserve the luxury of living after committing such heinous crimes. Undoubtedly, it is very clear what the most important and appropriate way of spending this money is, and if it was spent that way, it would improve the everyday lives of citizens across the nation.
The United States continues to have issues with the cost of stuffing and overcrowding its prisons across the nation due to its insufficient capital punishment system. Anyone faced with the death penalty will surely be scared for their life and rethink their actions. As it continues to be a controversial and heavily argued topic, no one seems to be able to put their foot down and really implement capital punishment. This continues to cause problems and it is getting worse the longer it is put aside. Death is a very sensitive subject and is not taken lightly in any situation, which is why it is so important to be there for ones at a time of loss and grief and death.
2019-2-11-1549917880